The document discusses the early history of pharmacy in America from the 17th century onwards. It notes that John Johnstone, a Scottish apothecary, founded a settlement in New Jersey in 1638, and that Gysbert van Imbroch, a Dutch surgeon, may have operated the first "drug store" in New York in 1653 as part of a multi-purpose dispensary. It also discusses the roles of early apothecaries and pharmacists in places like Boston and the first hospital pharmacy established at Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia in 1751.